Zelda (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

You might recognize Zelda's look from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds game. In battle she uses magical moves to reflect and teleport, and for her Final Smash, she seals her opponents away in the Triforce of Wisdom. If an opponent has 100% damage or more, they will be instantly KO'd!

Contents

Attributes

Strengths

Din’s Fire is unique in that it can be pocketed, but not reflected. This is likely because it doesn’t have a hitbox until it is detonated. You can also angle its direction up or down.

Phantom Slash is a good kill move.

Down aerial can meteor smash, despite you need to hit the sweetspot to do so.

Forward, back, and down aerials (Lightning Kick and Meteor Heel) all possess easy-to-land sweetspots that deal immense damage and knockback and have very good kill potential

Farore’s Wind possesses two hitboxes, one on the disappearance and one on the reappearance. The latter is an excellent combo finisher and can kill opponents off the upper or side blast lines if used correctly. It can also be angled, so you can alternatively use it as horizontal or vertical recovery.

Her Final Smash, Triforce of Wisdom, has an extremely long pull range in all directions that is impossible to miss unless if used extremely carelessly and can OHKO if used next to a blast line, which is fairly simple to execute. It also automatically kills if the enemy is at 100% by the end, making it a very reliable kill move.

Weaknesses

Few reliable kill moves.

Nayru’s Love requires timing in order to properly reflect projectiles, and has high end lag, making it easy to punish.

Phantom Slash requires charging to execute, and cannot be shield-canceled, which makes it easily punishable. Also, it is technically a projectile, meaning it can be reflected and pocketed.

Din’s Fire requires you to control the trajectory and detonation of the flame, which means Zelda is unable to move while doing this and thus can be punished for doing so. It cannot do sharp turns and thus is only that effective at long range where the orb has time to adjust.

When using Farore's Wind, it's possible to accidentally teleport off-stage. In this case, it's impossible to survive as you cannot double-jump or use Farore's Wind again until you hit the ground. If used downwards in such a way that a platform is in the way, it'll move Zelda sideways, making it a little risky and unpredictable in certain situations.

Summary

Zelda is primarily a zoning character, keeping her distance from opponents with powerful projectiles that can easily disrupt a match, and high-powered aerials that can be easily sweetspotted to land devastating blows. Din’s Fire is spammable, and can repel enemies quite well, forcing them to keep their distance while you form a plan. Nayru’s Love is a reflector, meaning that enemy projectiles can be used against them with proper timing. Phantom Slash is a heavy hitting projectile that is a decent kill move, and Farore’s wind gives good height/distance in addition to being a combo finisher with good kill power. If an enemy does get close, her dash attack is easy to hit and can push them away.

Unfortunately, many of Zelda’s moves have high end lag, making her easily punishable. Din’s Fire requires use of the control stick to move its trajectory, meaning Zelda is completely still until the fire explodes. Similarly, Phantom Slash cannot be shield-cancelled, so Zelda either loses the Phantom by an opponent hitting it while charging or attack Zelda herself. However, both attacks can be terminated early even if it means losing some of their potential. Nayru’s Love requires timing to actually reflect projectiles, so mistiming means getting hit with a projectile or being punished in the frames where Zelda is finishing the move but it has no hitbox. Her aerials also require sweetspotting for maximum effectiveness (except for her up aerial).

In conclusion, Zelda is a character who overwhelms opponents with powerful projectiles and aerials, but is quite easily punished for missing or even using most of her moveset.

Changes from SSBWU/3DS

Attributes

Her design is based off of her appearance from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

She has a new voice, the first time since Brawl.

Zelda has a new set of taunts.

Ground Attacks

Zelda's jab is now a multi-hit attack with a finisher.

Aerial Attacks

Grabs and Throws

Special Attacks

Din's Fire no longer puts Zelda into a helpless state when used in the air. Instead, she will not lose height and will drift in the direction the attack was aimed until it's over.

Zelda's Phantom Slash now has four levels of charge; the Phantom will stall before launching forwards when at full charge, and during this time Zelda can move around freely.

The Phantom is also unable to be destroyed this time and will block projectiles in its path.

Other attacks

Aerial Attacks

Forward aerial (Lightning Kick): Zelda kicks forth, a burst of magic appearing at the tip of her foot, dealing 4% damage to an enemy that got hit. This attack has a sweetspot: to hit it, press the attack button so that the enemy will get hit more or less in the middle of this attack's hitbox. Doing so will deal quintuple damage and increase the knockback drastically.

Back aerial (Lightning Kick): Zelda kicks backwards, a burst of magic appearing at the tip of her foot, dealing 4% damage to an enemy that got hit. This attack has the same sweetspot gimmick as Forward Aerial.

Up aerial: Zelda raises an arm and conjures a magic explosion overhead. She will also do a very small hop in midair.

Down aerial (Meteor Heel): Zelda stomps downwards with one leg. This attack has the same sweetspot gimmick as Forward and Back Aerial and will also meteor smash if sweetspotted.

Grabs and Throws

Pummel: Zelda zaps the grabbed opponent with magic.

Forward Throw: Zelda levitates the opponent and then hurls them away.

Back Throw: Zelda levitates the opponent and then hurls them backwards.

Up Throw: Zelda tosses the opponent upwards.

Down Throw: Zelda tosses the opponent to the ground and then attacks them with fire.

Up Taunt: Scoffs with a hand on her hip, while generating magic and twirling it in an cross shape in front of her.

Down Taunt: Giggles and waves with a smile.

Side Taunt: Closes her eyes and summons Din's Fire between cupped hands.

On-Screen Appearance

Appears facing the screen, generating magical sparkles from between cupped hands. Zelda then flourishes her hands while smiling before assuming her idle pose.

Idle Poses

Brushes her hair while looking back.

Smiles and performs a pondering gesture with a finger tapping her cheek.

Victory Poses

Left: Creates magic with her fingertips and waves it around.

Up: Creates fire from her fingertip and waves it around while giggling.

Right: Summons a Phantom behind her with a snap of her finger and poses with it.

In competitive play

To be added

Classic Mode Itinerary: Wisdom Prevails

For her classic mode route, Zelda faces foes who are antagonists. This is a reversal of the classic mode route of Ganondorf, who tends to face heroic characters. The stages and music themes are from the Zelda franchise.

First round: Wario is the opponent. The battle takes place on the Great Plateau Tower, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's main theme plays.

Second round: Bowser is the opponent. The battle takes place on the Skyloft stage, and the original version of Ballad of the Goddess plays.

Third round: The battle occurs on the Hyrule: Temple stage from Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the music is the temple theme. The opponents are five Yiga Clan Mii Swordfighters.